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[ female announcer ] new aveeno nourish plus shine. right now on msnbc saturday, testing the 2012 water, sarah palin delivers a speech at the site of the first presidential battleground. will she run or not? heading home. share raw shourd is expected to return to the united states after being jailed in iran for more than a year. the words the gulf region has been waiting for. permanent plug. bp is set to call the blownout well dead. major trouble for lindsay lohan. the star could be heading back behind bars. i'm alex witt. at this hour, bp crews are in the middle of a process to seal that blownout well at the bottom of the gulf of mexico once and for all. a temporary cap stopped the gusher in july and later by cement from the top.

but the well can't be declared dead until it is sealed from the bottom. kristen dahlgren is live with us in venice, louisiana. are we given any timeframe before we know if the well has been permanently sealed up? >> reporter: good morning, alex. we know that bp thinks it will be today. we could be just hours away from that word that everyone is waiting for that this well will never again leak into the gulf of mexico. it's an announcement that's 151 days into this disaster now. but here in these louisiana communities, it is still far from the finish line. 150 days after oil first flowed into the gulf, the flow of cement started. in what has been a months-long effort to finally seal the well from the bottom up. the cement was pumped in through the relief well. and at some point today officials are expected to declare success and a permanent end to the well that brought millions of barrel of oil and endless heartache to an entire region.

but while the well that first exploded april 20th may soon be killed, many here say they have been dying a slow death for months. what was once a vibrant fishing community now getting by on a cleanup effort. and that oil still washes ashore. more than 25,000 gallons of it collected just this week in louisiana. >> it's just the beginning for us. in the end at the well cabin, but for us, we have a long road ahead of us. we see oil coming up every day. >> reporter: then there's this. a second massive fish kill in plaquemines parish. >> i've never seen a starfish wash up on the beach. >> reporter: leaving folks here calling for more tests to make sure the oxygen depletion isn't caused by oil or dispersant. while today is a milestone, here it is still but one step. >> what i hope for now is that bp doesn't take off and split, that they stick around long enough for this to actually be

cleaned up, which i think is going to take a really long time. >> reporter: in a region still facing a long road ahead. now, bp could face billions of dollars in fines for this spill and could also face the mobility of criminal prosecution. the company has promised to stay here through the cleanup. but alex, what it has not said is that it would rule out the possibility of tapping into that reservoir through another well in the future. >> which would be controversial, to be sure. kristen dahlgren, thanks for that. let's go to the atlantic where folks in bermuda are bracing for powerful hurricane igor which is heading right to that island. igor's top winds reach near 110 miles an hour. let's check in with bill karens for the latest on this. >> what a couple weeks we've had. not only a lot of storms but the storms have become very strong. at one point we're tracking three major hurricanes. we haven't done that since

1920-something. very rare events. they've all missed the united states. mexico yesterday hit by karl. now igor heading for bermuda. not really all that intense right now, but it's large in size. like the size of texas. that means that bermuda will be in this storm for a while. already large waves are arriving. those tropical storm force winds. the worst of it will be after dinner tomorrow till about midnight. that's when the strongest winds from the hurricane will affect bermuda. here's the timing of it from the hurricane center. they think it should approach bermuda as a category 3 or 2 storm. it looks like late sunday night to early monday morning. the weather will be much improved by monday afternoon. our computer models are in excellent agreement that bermuda will get hit. no way to avoid it. each of these lines represents a potential path. there's only one far line to the pink one there to the right that avoids the island. all the others have it just to

the left of the island. when the storm is just to the left of you, that means you're in the stronger right-hand portion of the storm. that would be the worst forecast for bermuda. that's why they're getting all the preparations done now for the possibility of days without power and people possibly needing food and water and stuff like that. yesterday we had karl. that is gone and we're done with that. in mexico, it did kill two people. people are asking me what's next? there's still a storm off the coast of africa. seven to nine days. the bottom line with igor, alex, is for the most part, bermuda, they're not going to be able to miss this one. >> then brace yourselves out there in bermuda. police in afghanistan went to the polls today -- rather people, rather, went to vote in parliamentary election but not without the threat of violence from the taliban. today it is being looked at the government's key test to avoid corruption. so far several deaths have been

reported. so far who has been targeted by violence, john? >> they targeted the taliban went after voters. they tried to -- they've been threatening violence to try to stop people from going to the polls. in all, about three civilians and seven security forces were killed today in taliban attacks with rockets, grenades and bombs. but far less than had been threatened or had been feared by many and far less than the violence in last year's presidential election. international election observers say they fully expected some sort of violence today. but they say this process, the selection process is a long-term solution to the problem of violence. >> there is violence. hopefully, as i said earlier, it

won't get worse. i think the more people that can participate in a process like this, perhaps that will have an impact on reducing the violence over time. >> reporter: a number of polls -- or polling places, rather, were never opened because of the threat of violence because security officials believed they could not make them secure. and a number of others that were scheduled to open today didn't because of security issues. the results won't be known for some time. we don't expect even preliminary results before the end of the month and final numbers aren't expected before the end of october, alex. >> a lot more news to come from kabul. thank you, john yang. can't alaska's governor make a trip to the midwest without a lot of hoopla, not if you're sarah palin. the former vice presidential candidate was in des moines for a closely watched speech to the gop faithful.

good saturday morning to you, mike. >> good morning, alex. >> lots of speculation that sarah palin is testing the waters for 2012. >> everybody's asking the question, can she, might she, will she, won't she? none of those questions were answered by sarah palin last night, but there's no question that she went into iowa for the first time since she was a vice presidential candidate in 2008. she goes in now with rock star status. they sold out that annual reagan dinner. the most they've ever had in attendance at that particular dinner in des moines. but now the question is can she translate that popularity -- will she try to translate that popularity into a successful white house run? sarah palin in iowa. >> showing love to the home teams. >> reporter: getting a raucous welcome from party faithful at the site of the first presidential battleground. palin laughed off speculation about her plans for an oval office run. >> todd says, i don't know. i think you should go downstairs and run on that treadmill. i said, why would i want to stay

indoors? todd says, because i guarantee you, if anybody spots you in the tennis shoes, the headline's going to be vanity fair, they're going to say, palin in iowa decides to run. >> reporter: fresh off a string of primary victories for candidates she had backed palin was disdainful of leaders in her own parties who opposed her. >> i don't really know who they are who strategize and organize up in the gop machine. >> reporter: but with 45 days to go before midterm elections and republicans on the verge of big gains palin also issued a call for party unity. >> this is it, gop. this is our time. we can't blow it, gop. >> reporter: but many are looking beyond november and her decision to travel to iowa, a path well worn by presidential hopefuls is seen by some as a sign that she will run. >> given the enormous support she's got and the people who are winning whom she's endorsed, i think there will be an enormous

grass roots movement clamoring for her to get in the race, a movement that would be profoundly disappointed if she does not. >> reporter: but palin has no backing on the left and many independents are lukewarm. even some republicans have doubts. experts say it all makes for a rough road for palin if she does decide to run. >> but it will be hard for her to broaden her appeal because she seems to go back to the same kind of messages, the same kind of language, the same kind of style. it's a folksy style that really energizes some people but frankly turns off others. >> reporter: alex, a couple of things to point out here. though she did get the rock star reception last night, a recent poll by the iowa republican party or a branch of that party had her coming in fourth behind imnumerable number of gop hopifuls that are traipsing through the state. to run in iowa in the caucusous, retail politics. sarah palin won't be able to

come and make a speech. she'll have to stay for all the county fairs and do all the politicking and kissing babies and everything else that iowans have expected over the years. the white house doesn't mind that palin has the perception as a front-runner. and she was there to put a toe in the presidential waters. >> all we can say at this point we shall see, with your help out there. 18 people are injured after a charter bus crashed into a barrier in texas. the bus did not overturn. however some passengers were ejected through side windows that opened up on impact. one person needed to be transported in serious condition by air ambulance. the accident occurred after the driver tried to avoid a vehicle that squer have beened in front of him. lindsay lohan confirmed on her twitter page that she failed a court ordered drug and alcohol

test. she also tweeted that she's ready to face the consequences. she finished a jail and rehab stint three weeks ago for a probation violation but no word yet on when a new hearing will be held regarding her latest drug test results. a church sex abuse scandal clouded the pope's visit. plus begin es book of world records returns. we're taking a look at more of these bizarre honorees. what is that? i guess we'll tell you.

words alone aren't enough. our job is to listen and find ways to help workers who lost their jobs to the spill. i'm iris cross. we'll keep restoring the jobs, tourist beaches, and businesses impacted by the spill. we've paid over $400 million in claims and set up a $20 billion independently-run claims fund. i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. i'm gonna be here until we make this right. ♪ [ male announcer ] we touch a lot of things throughout the day. so it's nice that clorox disinfecting products help kill the germs that can live on surfaces for up to 48 hours. ♪ feels sweet when i can touch you ♪

first ron paul in kentucky, now o'donnell in delaware. the latest party darling to stun the gop favorite. what do these candidates have in

common? let's bring in pat buchanan along with karen finney, msnbc contributor. hello to the two of you. >> hello. how are you doing? >> i'm well, thanks. i have to go with you first, pat, because you have a long history with the wing of the conservative party. >> this is like the goldwater movement way back when i came into politics in the early '60s. not only wants to beat the democratic party of jack kennedy. they've knocked off more than the two you mentioned. they must have knocked off eight people. six of them are probably going to win and two may be doubtful. what this is is a movement as a prelude to taking back their country. now i think there's going to be a huge success for republicans this year. when you consider where we were two years ago, moribund and

despair, 20 more years of obama democratic rule. the tea party has been an enormous asset for the republican party. >> karen, we have to see how the midterms all shape up, but there's no doubt that the tea party has real momentum behind it. to what extent is that concerning democrats? >> a couple things we need to consider. the energy that we've seen from the tea party movement has largely been in republican primaries, so really energy against itself in some ways in terms of the republican party. how that fares out in a general election contest, we don't yet know. some of the more extreme positions that in of these candidates hold may not appeal to the critical independent voters in the midterm elections. so that's sort of one of the factors we have to keep an eye on. frankly, their extremism helps to rally the democratic base. that being said, i don't think that we can take anything for granted. both sides recognize that because voters are angry and they're having their say.

for all of us trying to predict what's going to happen, the voters need to keep deciding for themselves. >> take a look at what's happening so far, though. scott brown won a seat in massachusetts. pat toomey he's going to win that race. marco rubio in florida is now ahead by double digits. rand paul is going to win kentucky. no doubt we'll have a tough time in delaware, tough time in nevada, but the need for change inside the republican party. you can't go back to the same folks that gave us basically what left the country saying good-bye to republicans in 2008. >> if that's true, the change that pat's predicting there with the republican party, is that good news to democrats? and does it further the divide between the parties? >> you know, it might be. look, i think some of the tea party candidates are going to do well. i'm not sure if i agree with pat's list.

then the republican party will have to figure out ho to be a quote, unquote, big tent party. i welcome them to the task because it's been hard on the democratic side. the other thing is we don't yet know what will become of the tea party. because let's remember, it's very factionalized, very regional, backed by major right wingers like dick armey. it doesn't have the kind of infrastructure that a national party has. so again, when you get through a general election and then you actually have candidates in the house or the senate, how they behave and how they impact their own party, i think we just don't know. i look forward to seeing mitch mcconnell trying to work things out with joe miller. >> it will be tough for mitch mcconnell. >> i can't wait. >> we're talking about big tent, kid, if we're talking about big tent, we do have a big tent and there are some strange people in it, no doubt about it. but when you're building a big coalition, a lot of folks come in who are different and a lot come out of the democratic

party, they're independents. but that's the nature of a coalition thing like nixon and agnew and reagan put together. there's a lot of strange folks there, but you got to welcome them all, not just the moderates and the establishment liberals but the good old working class folks as well. >> you may have answered my question then, pat. does this mean that the gop will end up or be forced to embrace the tea party principles? because if they don't, don't they risk challenge from within? >> no, here's the thing. republican party's got its ideas and the tea party's got its ideas. frankly, what you come down to when you get together is you got to work out inside your own coalition where you're going and what your positions are before you meet with the democratic party. and that's healthy. because a lot of what the tea party is for is much tougher, i think, more confrontational, more stand-up on principles certainly than the republican party. >> again, that may present a unique and significant challenge to republicans -- >> good. >> if the tea party are still --

i mean, it may end up being the right thing for your party, but in terms of governing, that he about a challenge because the tea partiers will feel emboldened and civil war, if you will, within the republican party. democrats will sit back and let you at it. >> they've been doing that for two years. and it doesn't look very good for them in november, karen. >> karen's about to say, we'll see, pat. >> yes, i am. >> and they'll speak for themselves in the next hour. see you then. sarah shourd is on her way back to the u.s. today. plus eyes on the road. look at this. a bus driver getting caught doing something he had no business doing behind a professional wheel. we asked zyrtec® users what they love about their allergy relief, and what it lets them do. the thing i love most about zyrtec® is that it allows me to be outside. [ male announcer ] we bet you'll love zyrtec®, too -- or it's free. [ vonetta ] it is countdown to marshmallow time. [ woman laughs ]

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pope's visit to the uk. the pope is wrong, put a condom on and the pope protects pedophile priests. george is the author of "the end and the beginning, pope john paul ii, the victory of freedom, the last year, the legacy." good morning to you, george. >> good morning, alex. >> how damaging are these protesters to the pope's visit and to his message? >> i don't think they're damaging at all. there was an enormous fuss before the pope got to britain over the last month. the media atmosphere in the uk was simply poisonous. but he's taken the poison out of the atmosphere over the last three days. 10,000 people in the city of 10 million people isn't a terribly large turnout it seems to me. and i think the pope has redefined the agenda of this visit. it's now about the place of christian conviction in the britain of the 21st century. he's also re-introduced himself to the british people as a genuine pastor.

a man who cares about, for example, the victims of abuse of clergy and who is determined to invite people into a closer relationship to god, which is after all, what pastors are for. >> and in terms of that which he's trying to do, help those seeking comfort for past abuses by priests, he apologized for the abuses committed by the church and yet still we see so many protesters. how does the pope move on from this subject, if he does ever? i mean, how does he overcome this? >> i think he's going to be addressing this for the rest of his pontificate. we don't know how long that will be. he's 83 years old. but he's determined to rid the church of this problem. he has been very, very firm on this for a decade now. and i don't think he will resist the idea of coming back to this subject when appropriate because he understands that reaching out to victims and calling the whole church to repentance is part of

his task as the bishop of rome and the shepherd of the world church. >> george, i'm curious because there seems to be a more open minded approach from this pope than his predecessor, pope john paul ii about whom you've written this book. is that merely because it all came to light or are these distinctly different men? >> well, we have to remember, alex, that in april of 2002, at the height of the scandal in the united states, john paul ii said very firmly to the leader of the catholic church in america, there is no place in the church for those who would abuse the young. so i don't think there's a substantive difference between these two men at all. benedict xvi has made a point on his travels of meeting with victims, of being a pastor to people who have been hurt. and i think that's made a large and positive impression. >> george wigle, always good to speak with you.

thanks so much for joining us this morning. >> thank you, alex. a city but drufr in portland, oregon, is on administrative leave after cell phone video shows him appearing to read an e-book while driving. the alleged incident occurred thursday on a bus full of people. so a passenger who saw the e-reader on the dashboard decided to use his own electronic device, his cell phone to catch the driver reading while driving. can you see that? that's just not good. [ female announcer ] relaxing for who? try new market creations from lean cuisine. the new steam pouch locks in the fresh taste of crisp veggies, tender chicken, and al dente pasta, new market creations from lean cuisine. i know who works differently than many other allergy medications. hoo? omnaris. [ men ] omnaris -- to the nose! [ man ] did you know nasal symptoms like congestion can be caused by allergic inflammation? omnaris relieves your symptoms by fighting inflammation. side effects may include headache, nosebleed, and sore throat. [ inhales deeply ] i told my allergy symptoms to take a hike.

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sarah shourd, the american hiker freed from an iranian prison is expected to return to the u.s. today. shourd's aunt says her niece will arrive in new york later today. her fiance shane bauer and josh fattal are still in iran. she's expected to give a statement to the press in about an hour. stay with us for the updates. a stunning revelation from lindsay lohan's own twitter page could land the troubled actress

back in a jail cell. we'll get the details from dawn yannic with life & style weekly. good morning again. >> good morning. >> what's going on now with lindsay? >> yesterday multiple reports surfaced that lindsay lowen had failed a drug test, maybe more than one. one reporting that she tested positive for cocaine although that is still unconfirmed. she came out and denied the allegations that the outlets reporting this were, quote, nuts. then hours later, late last night she took to her twitter account and said, i did indeed fail a drug test and for the first time she took responsibility and said she had a substance abuse problem. >> you got to face the responsibility, face the music. that's a step to turn things around. here's one tweet. she says, regrettably, i did in fact fail my most recent drug test and if i'm asked, i am prepared to appear before judge fox next week as a result. and another one she says, quote, substance abuse is a disease which unfortunately doesn't go

away overnight. i'm working hard to overcome it and i'm taking positive steps forward every day. then this tweet where she says i'm testing every single day and doing what i must do to prevent any mishaps in the future. so the last one is the one i want to take issue with. because the judge made it pretty clear what would happen if lindsay violated her probation. >> he absolutely did. she said it and said it right. substance abuse recovery is a long road and there are going to be setbacks. but that said, judge eldin fox was very clear. he said if she violated any aspect of her probation, she's going back to jail for 30 days. will he take mercy on her? will he give her another chance? will he send her to rehab instead of jail? it's the weekend, so we don't know. a hearing hasn't been set. we'll hear more on monday. >> i know she was spotted at a club in new york earlier this week. but overall she's been pretty vocal about wanting to get back her terrific acting career. she wants to get it back on

track. how will this incident affect that? >> absolutely. she appeared at the vma. she was poking jokes at her sobriety issues, maybe too soon. there was talk of her hosting snl and there's the linda lovelace movie that she has on tap. she's admissions on twitter could go a long way for her in hollywood. she's not the first actor to have a substance abuse problem in hollywood, that's for sure. by taking this first step, it makes people more sympathetic for her. we're rooting for her at life & style weekly, i'm telling you that. >> i am, too. i hope she gets through this. passengers oen a u.s. airways flight from phoenix to hawaii experienced a bit of a scare as their plane was forced to make an emergency landing in san francisco as a precaution after the pilot noticed smoke in the cockpit. no word yet as to what caused the unexpected stop. the flight made a safe landing and no one was hurt.

sympathy is preplaced by shock and confusion today as investigators are trying to figure out why a washington woman intentionally disfigured herself by burning her face with ac acid. what would compel a person to inflict this life altering damage on themselves? michelle, good morning. >> good morning, good to see you. >> i'm glad to see you, too. how often do you come across these types of self-inflicted injuries and why might someone fake their own assault? >> it's very interesting, alex. a lot of times in cases you'll see maybe some other type of self-inflicted injuries. not usually geared towards the face. not usually geared towards this extent of damaging a person's face and really kind of speaking out about it and going to such extremes to make up a composite sketch, to come forward, to speak to media outlets, to really kind of get a national platform for their injuries.

>> how much responsibility do you think this washington woman should have in all this? because look, she lied clearly, but she's obviously disturbed. >> she did lie and she is very disturbed, unfortunately. it appears that she has no sort of emotional distress and she'll get the help that she needs to be able to move forward. it seems that her family, they're very sorry as well. they did not realize, they say, that something like this was not a random attack. and they do want to help their child be able to get the help that she needs to move forward in this. it seems like the community is more geared towards looking at her as having some sort of problem as opposed to lashing out at her for coming forward and wasting resources. >> yeah, in fact, her parents have said they're going to return any money that was donated to help benefit their daughter with her recovery. but there was also the acid attack on a woman in arizona a few days after this one. do investigators think this was a copycat attack. and if so, to what extent does this washington woman have to be held accountable?

>> well, investigators are looking into the possibility that it could be a copycat attack. i can tell you from talking to authorities in arizona, that they do believe that that attack was not random. that's very important to note. and there is a suspect description. i do have that on the international crime wire if you log on to michellesigona.com. i have a sketch right up there for you to view and please call investigators if you have any information in that case. the victim is pretty upset. she has moved back to massachusetts to be able to recover from her injuries. this is something that investigators are still taking in the leads and moving forward to try to identify the person in that case. so it's interesting that this -- the first case, the august 31st case in washington was able to have this sort of national platform to move forward and to possibly give someone else the idea to do this. it's disturbing. and i think that that's something that this particular attack victim bethany, specifically may have to deal

with in the future. >> a lot of things to deal with. thank you for joining us. >> have a good day. those chilean miners are a step closer to rescue today as the first of three drills reached those men last night. the drill opened the hole about a foot in diameter. that hole must be widened to 28 inches so the rescuers are insert a pod to bring them to safety. we'll check out some snow on the ground at glacier national park near missoula. can you believe it? a cold front out of canada moved into that region producing temperatures to produce a dusting of snow in that area. temperatures will climb up to the 60s this weekend. how good does it feel to find a great bargain? according to a new study, it's just like sex apparently. english researchers found that shoppers experienced the same rush of endorphins when they hit a hot sale as they do when they're sexually turned on.

50 volunteers looked at pornographic pictures while scientists monitored their eye movements and brain activity. then clippings of shopping ads about we should note, the institute of promotional marketing conducted the study. coming up, bermuda's bracing for a hurricane as igor swirls right toward that island. we've got a live report from bermuda next. plus august was the worst month in foreclosures ever on record. words alone aren't enough. our job is to listen and find ways to help workers who lost their jobs to the spill. i'm iris cross. we'll keep restoring the jobs, tourist beaches, and businesses impacted by the spill. we've paid over $400 million in claims

and set up a $20 billion independently-run claims fund. i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. i'm gonna be here until we make this right. rheumatoid arthritis going? they're discovering the first self-injectable ra medicine you take just once a month. it's simponi™, and taken with methotrexate, it helps relieve the pain, stiffness, and swelling of ra with one dose a month. visit 4simponi.com to see if you qualify for a full year of cost support. simponi™ can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious and sometimes fatal events can occur, such as infections, cancer in children and adults,

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with bifocal lenses for just $25 more per pair. ♪♪ a flavor paradises aof delicious fishes ♪♪ ♪ friskies seafood sensations. ♪ feed the senses. normally a tropical stormal island is a wonderful place to relax and try to enjoy yourself, but that's certainly not the case in weekend in bermuda where people are bracing for the arrival of hurricane igor which is bearing down on the island. that's where the weather

channel's jim cantore is joining us live. what is the latest on hurricane igor. >> yeah, alex, very alarming here. no question about it. when you've got the bermuda weather service saying the center will go within ten miles of the island. they're very confident about that forecast. also the safety minister comes out and says this is going to be the worst we've ever seen. when you think about the kind of destruction that fabian did back in 2003, lots of structural damage, i'm wondering myself when i'll be able to get out of here. this is going to be a dangerous storm. fabian lasted about 12 hours. it was in and out of here. obviously it did its damage. this is going to last about 40 hours. and hurricane force winds are going to last 12 hours. and this is going to be a long duration event, huge waves, 50-foot waves, 30 to 50 crashes on the beaches behind me here. already at low tide, you can see how the surf's up. it's starting to remove the beach, there's so much action in here. the airport will close down

through monday. the safety minister is very concerned about the causeway itself. it breached during fabian and they think it certainly could do so again with a battering of waves. schools are closed through at least monday here. and there's one shelter open at cedar bridge academy. it's kind of amazing when you think of a storm this mag that tude, an island of 64,000 people, they've got one shelter open. they expect people to ride out the storm on their homes. they're made out of bedrock, they're built on concrete. so they've been doing a lot of preparations and they're getting ready. they feel like they're ready and they certainly are acting it. they're just coming out at a few last-minute gawks a tt huge wave action that's when it's

going to get scary. that's when people can really sustain a tremendous amount of damage when you go out and start getting hit with flying debris. the two don't mix.

that's what i'm worried about. >> yeah, i'll bet.p

let's talk about 2005, in the entire year, banks only took back 100,000 homes, alex. now we've looked at they've taken back those same amount of homes in one month of 2010. so we're on track right now to see about 1.2 million homes actually repossessed by the bank this year. >> there are places in this country, a few states in particular that this is being felt. it's painful. can we talk about those states? >> absolutely. in five states we're talking about just five states out of 50 that account for over 50% of the total federal -- total national foreclosure activity california

acts for 19%. florida accounts for 17%. then those others each account for 5%. the real commonalities is very high unemployment rates. when unemployment is that high, people can't afford to buy the homes and they can't afford to make their current existing mortgage pams. >> yeah, one piece of bad news leads to another one. thank you very much. appreciate that. >> no problem. >> next up, some of the strangest record breakers of the year. let's look at this dog who made it into the latest guinness book of world records. can you figure out why? yeah, yeah. i know you had the answer. homes for those in need? or, maybe you want to help improve our schools? whatever you want to do, members project from american express can help you take the first step. vote, volunteer or donate for the causes you believe in at membersproject.com.

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they are certainly amazing. they're shocking and some were just plain old weird out there. we're talking about the new 2011 edition of the guinness book of world records which includes more of the winners that you have to see to believe. the incredible details from u.s.

spokes with guinness world records. good morning again. >> good morning, alex. >> this one, the pictures are unbelievable. the three contortionists fitting into the smallest space. >> indeed. this record is for the longest time three contortionists can ÷ 27 by 26 by 22 inches. these three ladies in new zealand were in that box for six minutes and 13.52 seconds and launched themselves into the guinness world records book as a result of that. >> okay. i'm pained looking at that for them. but that's pretty incredible. >> that's a long six minute, i'm sure. >> yeah, i think so. this next one, talk about a long time. this is frightening. the record for being on fire without oxygen. come on. >> do not try this at home. this is ted bachelor from ohio. a professional stuntman. he holds the record. two minutes, 57 seconds.

remarkably his wife dresses him in the suit, sets him on fire and puts him out. i hope they never get into a bad argument, that's for sure. >> good point right there. look at him just walking around like hey, i'm on fire. what about what we showed with our viewers before the commercial break. these animals. the dog with the longest tongue. my goodness. >> look at that thing. this is puggy owned by becky stanford in texas. this puggy is the record holder for the longest tongue on a dog. a remarkable 4 1/2 inches. and it's actually she's one of the many animal record holders in this year's book, but you can see she's kind a standout. >> quite. what about the largest balloon sculpture for the creative types? >> this is held by john cassidy who is a balloon modeling master and holds many guinness world records. but this is the largest sculpture made of modeling balloons.

440 balloons went into making this biplane. it's 197 inches wide by 147. you can just see john popping his head out there to give you a sense of the scale of that thing. >> someone here in the studio just said to me, wow, a hot air balloon. ha ha. this one is kind of freaky. i'll warn the audience here. it's about the most needles to the head. oh, yeah. >> yes. wei shang shu, the most needles in the head. remarkable 2,009 needles in the head. this was on our show in italy last year. caused him no pain whatsoever. do not try this at home, please. >> i thing we'll have to end on that one because that one seems relatively unbeatable. we're glad to have you here. good luck with the book. >> thank you, alex. >> still ahead here on msnbc saturday, it's called a medical

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[ vonetta ] it is countdown to marshmallow time. words alone aren't enough. my job is to listen to the needs and frustrations of the shrimpers and fishermen, hotel or restaurant workers who lost their jobs to the spill. i'm iris cross. bp has taken full responsibility for the clean up in the gulf and that includes keeping you informed. our job is to listen and find ways to help. that means working with communities. restoring the jobs, tourist beaches, and businesses impacted by the spill. we've paid over $400 million in claims and set up a $20 billion independently-run claims fund to cover lost income until people impacted can get back to work. and our efforts aren't coming at tax-payer expense. i know people are wondering-- now that the well is capped, is bp gonna meet its commitments? i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. i'm gonna be here until we make this right.